The Opelousas courier., 1887-06-04
TARPON FISHING.
How a Famous Florida Fish is
Caught with Shark Tackle.
A Prolonged and Severe Struggle with the
Gamiest Of Finny Monsters.

Mr.. Thomas b. Astcn of New York
who has been recently yachting and fish
ing in Florida waters, was interviewed
by the Indian River News about his OK
pcriencc with tarponsSthe big fish of tn
land of flowers.
"After building my yacht" said Mr.
Asten, "with the purpose in view of Wis
iting the west coast Of Florida to indulge
in some lively sport in fishing which VT
ware informed could only be found in tina
section, we changed u minds and in.
duccd our friend Lieut.. Hem, to joir
with us in a trip to the east coast ano
try some of the lesser kinds of fish, sucf
as bass, trout, sheepshcad, snappers, d..
Imagine our surprise and Incredibly
! when told by the residents that the
famous tarpon was to be found in oul
near vicinity, SO We decided to invest,
/! gate. The first evening we went to the
west side of the river with our lines,
hooks, smells, and other paraphernaIia
to see what was to be seen. Our first
view of the BEAUTIES was Immediately
after moonrise, when they werc to be
seen leaping and flying through the air,
g%ambolling and playing, their bright,
silvery scales glistening in tho moon
light, aft riding a seine taat beggars
description. We undertook the task OF
hooking q few of them, and, after strug-
Cling for some time Intellectually, we
finally succeeded in bringing one ofthem
up to the side of the boat apparently cx-
hausted; then the fun began in earnest.
The fish seemed to realise his critical
situation, aud as we failed to bring a
lance or o spear with which to pierce
him, we were at sea, as it were, with an
elephant ON our hands and no means to
capture him.
1.-THE next evening we were more for
tunate. We supplied ourselves with the
largest and most powerful shark hooks,
made smells eighteen inches to two feet
in length of Quadruple twisted wire to
prevent the monsters jaws from getting
away with our hooks and tackle. With
heavy lances with which to pierce the
fish should we catch one, we once more
rcsorted to the scene of action. We had
learned two lessons-that the tackle used
to catch the west coast tarpon was abso-
lutcly insufficient and had to be sub
stituted by the most powerful shark
tackle, and that the roper time to angle
was by moonlight, when they come in
the inlcts and cuts to feed on the smaller
fish that abound in these places at those
times. The scene that pre-
sented itself on our arrival
was n of most exciting interest.
Here, there, and on all sides of us were
to be seen leaping and flashing in the
moonlight the glistening forms of these
graceful and fearless creatures. AS we
would cast out our lines baited with
mullet they would be seized almost i'm
mediately, and ere we could tighten our
grasp the fish would dart tothis side or
that. One moment the line would be
entirely limp and apparently empty
when, swish, over to the right of you
would leap a monster eight to ten feet in
the air, shaking his wonderfully formed
head, and nine times out of ten the hook
would 60 splnning several feet away. A
strange feature of the fish's pranks was
his attempt to grab the hook after
throwing it from his mouth, sometimes
catching it before it struck the water.
Thus the sport continued, ever
watchful lest the line became entangled
in the least with any part of the body,
for in that case, were the fish to take d
course from the boat, the unfortunate
would run q great risk Of being drawn
overheard or being badly lacerated. The
wonderful power possessed by these dem
izens Of the sea may be judged from the
fact that in the capture of a hundred
FOUNDER the boat containing myself and
assistant was drawn back and forth over
a distance of two miles or more. This
means being employed to wear cut the
strength Of the fish, it is at last drawn
up 10 . distance that will allow an assist
ant to spear him, and even then it requires
considera al skill to land him in the
boat while undergoing his last efforts
AMI struggles. Lucky is he who sue
ceeds 10 getting n Of these varieties,
for Of oil gamy fish this is considered by
scamen the most difficult to capture